The Associated PressWalker, a toy poodle owned by Ron Scott and Debbie Burke of Dillsburg, won the toy group this year at the Westminster Kennel Club and will participate in this weekend's Blue & Gray Cluster in Harrisburg.This weekend’s Blue & Gray Cluster dog show in Harrisburg will feature plenty of poufy toy poodles, all-American redbone coonhounds and 155 other breeds competing for prizes, complete with enough combing and primping to shame a Miss American pageant. But the show, traditionally one of the Mid-Atlantic region’s top canine competitions, has lost some of its bite, a victim of economics and dog club politics.

This year’s edition will feature about 2,150 dogs competing today through Monday, compared with more than 4,000 dogs in the Thursday to Sunday cluster last year. The could affect attendance for the shows, which in past years have drawn 10,000 to 20,000 people who come to watch the show dogs strut their stuff .

One reason for this year’s decline in dogs is that two of the four clubs which traditionally participate, Chambersburg Area Kennel Club and Lebanon County Kennel Club, chose not to take part, leaving just the host Harrisburg Kennel Club and the Mason and Dixon Kennel Club from Hagerstown, Md. That could mean trouble for the show in the future, as the quantity of animals competing in a show affects the number of crucial championship points available for the winners. With literally hundreds of dog shows to choose among in a calendar year, dog owners could compete in shows where the numbers are more attractive.

“We are working to try to rebuild at least a four-day cluster,” said Brian Brubaker, assistant show chair for the host Harrisburg Kennel Club. “That’s our plan. We think that’s a good number for us.”

A lingering recession already has affected people’s willingness to participate in what can be a very expensive hobby. According to Lisa Peterson, director of communications for the American Kennel Club, anecdotal evidence indicates that participation in dog shows may be off about 10 percent nationwide. The AKC sets breed standards and sanctions dog shows, including the Blue & Gray Cluster. “Clearly the economy has had an effect on people’s ability to go to shows,” Peterson said. “Dog people are very passionate, but they may be showing less often.”

While it’s possible to show a dog once in a while locally for a few hundred dollars, it easily can cost more than $100,000 a year to show top dogs. “It’s an expensive hobby,” said Ron Scott of Dillsburg, who along with partner Debbie Burke owns Walker, the nation’s top-ranked toy poodle. Walker, this year’s winner of the toy group at the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York, is scheduled to participate in the weekend shows in Harrisburg.

The idea behind a cluster show is to bring multiple kennel clubs together to share costs and to draw a bigger audience by providing shows over a number of days. It’s also an advantage for dog handlers, who can compete in multiple shows in one stop. “Professional handlers may bring 20 to 30 dogs to a show,” Brubaker said. “It makes sense for them to come to a cluster show. They can unload the animals once and show them for four or five days.”

The cracks in the Blue & Gray Cluster began last fall, when the Lebanon County and Chambersburg Area clubs declined to sign contracts for this year’s shows. Traditionally, Lebanon organized the Thursday show, while Chambersburg was responsible for the Friday event. Even though the two clubs did not participate, under AKC rules they still hold the rights to those two days. As a result, when Mason and Dixon club decided to offer a second show, it had to be front-loaded as a Monday event, leaving the more attractive Thursday and Friday dates blank, at least for this year.

While Chambersburg’s return to the cluster appears unlikely, officials with the Lebanon County Kennel Club said they have restructured their leadership and are hoping to be back. “For a while there was some doubt whether the club would even go on or not,” said Sandy Wagner, a Palmyra groomer who is a member of the club’s board of directors. “We’re past that now. The club is growing by leaps and bounds, and we will probably be back next year.

The exact reasons for Chambersburg’s departure are a matter of some debate and many rumors, but dissension within the ranks of the club and a falling out with the Harrisburg Kennel Club were part of the picture. “It’s fair to say club politics were involved,” said Sandie Rolinitis, who had organized Chambersburg’s show at the annual Cluster for the past 10 years. “Economics also played a factor. The price of the Farm Show building keeps going up. The entry fee went up, the parking went up, things we had no control over. The only option you have is to pass it on to your clients. At some point, the ends didn’t justify the means.”

Rolinitis said she was so disheartened by the turn of events that she dropped out of the club. “I’ve stepped away from it,” she said. “I do not want to be involved.” Efforts this week to reach Chambersburg club president Judy Calverase were unsuccessful. Phone and e-mail messages to her were not returned.

Scott, a retired businessman who was instrumental in building up the Blue & Gray Cluster during his years as chairman of the Harrisburg Kennel Club, is rooting for the show — and the hobby as a whole — to bounce back. “Four years ago, we had in the high 3,000 entries just for the Saturday show,” he said. “It will be a much smaller show this year. It saddens me greatly. The people who take part in this hobby are a wonderful a group of people from every walk of life. I can’t imagine that not being there.”

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